A U.S. Air Force spy plane was forced to veer into Swedish airspace to avoid being intercepted by Russian fighter jets over the Baltic Sea - just one day after Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was blown out of the sky by Russian-backed rebels.

The Top Gun-style pursuit on July 18 seems like a replay of Cold War maneuvers. It even involved a Cold War-era aircraft, the 1960s RC-135 Rivet Joint - which is designed to intercept and decode communications.

The disaster that happened in the skies over eastern Ukraine just one day earlier raised tensions even more. On July 17, according to U.S. intelligence officials, a Russian BUK surface-to-air missile shot down a civilian airliner and killed all on 298 people aboard. Western authorities say Russian separatists fired the weapon, believing that the airliner was a Ukrainian transport plane.

The RC-135 Rivet Joint was conducting a subservience mission in international airspace when Russia scrambled fighter jets to intercept it

The Air Force spy plane had been flying near Kaliningrad, a heavily-militarized Russian territory on the Baltic Sea that is geographically isolated from the rest of Russia, according to the New York Times.

The U.S. Air Force said it was in international airspace over the Baltic when Russia launched fighter jets to intercept the RC-135.

'The aircraft commander, acting in a professional and safe manner, maneuvered the aircraft to avoid a possible encounter by Russian aircraft,' the U.S. military's European Command said in a statement.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Swedish news media reported that the jet veered over Gotland Island, which is part of Sweden.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the incident played out like a scene from the 1990s jetfighter thriller 'Top Gun.'

The Swedes, who are not members of NATO, chastised the Americans for the maneuver when they realized the U.S. military plane was in their airspace without permission.

The U.S. military has all-but apologized to Sweden, saying that the aircraft was sent over the country 'incorrectly by U.S. personnel.'

The American jet was conducting a surveillance mission near Kalingingrad, Russia, when it was forced to veer into Swedish airspace

The U.S. military's European Command also said it would work with Sweden 'to prevent similar issues before they arise,' the Times reports.

Tensions with Russia have escalated rapidly after President Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops to reclaim the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in February.

The Russian military's troop buildup on the Ukrainian border, along with allegations of Russian support for separatist forces in eastern Ukraine has led NATO - Russia's Cold War adversary - to step up its military presence in eastern Europe.